


Together As One

by multifandommess



Category: South Park
Genre: (sort of), Alien!Tweek, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Creek Week 2020 (South Park), Cursed Deckhand!Craig, Demons, Forest of Drizzling Rain AU, Forgot to tag the most important part lmao, M/M, Magic, Merman!Tweek, Outer Space, Pirates, Pumpkin carving, South Park: The Fractured But Whole, Tagging Stan for prompt #6 since he has a pretty big role in that one, Tattoos, demon!Craig, movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:21:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27209572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/multifandommess/pseuds/multifandommess
Summary: The lives of Craig and Tweek are irrevocably entwined, no matter when and where they are, and they wouldn’t have it any other way. (A collection of 7 separate one-shots)
Relationships: Craig Tucker/Tweek Tweak
Comments: 10
Kudos: 57
Collections: Creek Week





	1. Day One: Tattoo

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [Creek Week 2020](https://creekcrew.tumblr.com/post/627357227394711552/whats-creek-week-creek-week-is-your-yearly)! This is my first time participating in Creek Week and only my second time writing anything for the pairing, so I hope I can do them justice! ^^

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably stretching the meaning of the prompt here, but I couldn't really think of anything for tattoos lol so hopefully this is close enough ;u;

It was said that all people are born with a special mark on their skin, completely unique to them and one specific other person. While some likened the marks to fingerprints--in how despite there being billions upon billions of people in the whole world, there were never repeat marks as far as scientists could tell--these marks were special in a way that was far different than any regular birthmark or blemish that could be found on the body: it wasn’t just a mark, but rather a _symbol_ , a sign that there was a person out there destined to spend their life with you.

Tweek just wished his mark would _go away_.

The thought of being forcibly bound together with some stranger by the fates, or the cosmos, or aliens or the government or _whatever_ it was that determined people’s soulmates made Tweek’s anxiety flare up something fierce. While most people would be excited and eager to meet their destined partner, Tweek instead found himself dreading each encounter with every stranger that crossed his path, panicking and freaking out the second anyone’s gaze landed on the glove hiding the mark on the back of his left hand despite knowing that no one could see it.

He didn’t _want_ a soulmate! He didn’t want to be _bound_ to someone that he didn’t even _know_. What if they were mean, or couldn’t stand his anxious quirks, or had quirks of their own that irritated him, or had a grating voice, or were unhygienic, or just plain didn’t like him, or what if they were a criminal or a government spy or a serial murderer or--

Well, needless to say, there was a whole laundry list of reasons why Tweek--in his completely justified opinion--felt that soulmates were a disaster waiting to happen.

And then he met Craig Tucker.

It certainly wasn’t love at first sight--far from it, honestly. Craig was the _last_ kind of person that Tweek wanted to be around for an extended period of time, just a step or two above Cartman and his group, and Tweek’s life was stressful enough as it was without dealing with the added pressure of someone constantly flipping him off or snarking at him in a dry, nasally tone.

The first time Tweek saw the mark on Craig’s hand, identical to his own, Tweek nearly had a panic attack on the spot. Fleeing while screaming like he was about to be murdered probably wasn’t much better than having a panic attack in the middle of school, but at least everyone was already so used to Tweek’s behavior that most people didn’t even bat an eye over his volume or his hasty retreat.

If he hadn’t wanted to stay far away from Craig before, he sure as hell did _now_ . If people found out that Craig was his soulmate--or worse, if _Craig_ found out that he was Tweek’s soulmate--then he would have to deal with everyone cooing over them and trying to get them together and trying to see their soulmate marks side by side and--

Yeah, staying far away from Craig was the best decision that Tweek could possibly make, for his sanity’s sake if nothing else.

Yet as if by _fate_ , the two of them found themselves continuously crossing paths despite Tweek’s best efforts to avoid Craig: through elementary school, middle school, and even high school, Craig Tucker was always somehow a part of Tweek’s life, intentionally or not.

And the best(?) part was that in all the years that Tweek (reluctantly) knew him for, Craig never once brought up the subject of soulmates around him.

Did he even know that Tweek--the town spaz, the most anxious and paranoid disaster of a human being in all of South Park, the person that hardly anyone cared enough to be friends with unless they wanted something from him--was his _soulmate_? Or did he know, but he just didn’t care?

Tweek wasn’t sure which option was worse, honestly, nor did he know which option he was hoping for the longer he spent with Craig coming in and out of his life. Craig, at some point, had gone from being a person that Tweek would bend over backwards to avoid, to a constant that was familiar enough to make him feel comfortable while still giving him enough space to not feel pressured--but would bringing the subject of soulmates up with him ruin this odd not-friendship (not-relationship?) between them, or would Craig treat it with the same calm indifference that Tweek was used to seeing him treat everything else in his life with?

It was impossible to say, and even just thinking about it was enough to make his stomach turn, so… maybe keeping things this way would be for the best, at least for now.

Maybe one day, when he felt more confident in both himself and whether or not he wanted Craig to be a permanent fixture in his tumultuous life, he would sit down with Craig and allow him to take a proper look at the mark that was the one and only match to Craig’s own.


	2. Day Two: Magic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, probably stretching the meaning of the prompt lol but I love Super Craig and Wonder Tweek too much to not include at least one drabble fic with them ;u;

Wonder Tweek’s abilities were like magic.

Of course, Super Craig knew on a logical level that they weren’t technically  _ magic _ , but rather manipulation of the natural elements--yet despite what people might believe, it wasn’t the sight of Tweek in battle that stole Craig’s breath away and made him believe, for even just a moment, that magic was real.

(Watching Tweek in battle was certainly an amazing feat that left Craig in breathless awe each time, of course, but that could just as easily be due to the fact that Craig was very,  _ very _ gay for his elementalist boyfriend.)

Rather than the deadly bolts of lightning that Tweek would rain down upon their enemies, or the subzero shards of ice that Tweek would direct with a mere wave of his hand, or even the gentle rain that Tweek would summon to wash away their injuries… it was the little applications of Tweek’s abilities outside of battle that appealed to Craig’s inner kid, leaving him awed and believing in magic for just a small moment in time despite his mind reminding him of all the logical fallacies that came with the subject.

Superhero abilities and magic were two different things. Even the most insane abilities could be explained through science--and there were, in fact, specific fields of science dedicated entirely to analyzing and explaining superhuman capabilities--but magic was something out of fantasy novels and kids’ TV shows, an umbrella term used for things that couldn’t be plausibly explained.

Craig, from a very young age, had always been a firm believer in science and logic--which was admittedly rare for a brutalist, but just because he preferred solving problems with his fists didn’t mean that he was an idiot.  _ Logically _ , it was just faster and easier to punch his problems than to come up with convoluted plans to deal with things, though he was more than capable of sitting down with the brains of the group and talking through battle strategies or spending hours analyzing enemies to search for exploitable weaknesses.

When it came to Tweek, though… Craig found that he sometimes had to give an inch and ease up on the blunt facts, if only because it contrasted with Tweek’s wild, anxious imagination and illogical emotions so strongly that it usually resulted in them butting heads, when all Craig had been trying to do was make a simple point or calm his boyfriend down.

So Craig learned to find a balance--and part of that balance was stopping himself from finding explanations for every little thing that Tweek did, so he could instead enjoy the small, magical displays of Tweek re-freezing his ice cream with a single breath, or tapping his phone to charge up the battery any time he forgot to plug it in overnight, or waving a hand to dry himself and Craig off after getting caught in a downpour on their way to the Freedom Pals’ hideout.

Sometimes, if he was in a confident enough mood and if the opportunity presented itself, Tweek would even gather the collected rainwater in a ball and toss it at the Coon when his back was turned.

(Craig seriously loved Tweek so much, especially in the rare moments when he let his more mischievous side show. He was the _best_.)

In any case, magic wasn’t real, but Tweek  _ was _ real, and Tweek was--in Craig’s eyes--nothing short of  _ magical _ . So maybe, despite the part of his brain that protested the idea, it was okay sometimes to just accept that magic could be real too.


	3. Day Three: Pirates

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so back in ye olde days when I used to consistently write fanfiction and not just squeeze out drabbles once in a blue moon, I had a bunch of Creek ideas that I wanted to write but ended up never getting around to.
> 
> Cursed deckhand!Craig/Merman!Tweek was one of those ideas, and judging by how long it took me to drag myself through the setup for the fic without even managing to make it to the actual interaction between Craig and Tweek, I can't say I'm not surprised that I didn't end up writing this as a full fic lmao but if anyone likes the concept and wants to run with the idea, please feel free!! I'd love to see this idea turned into a proper fic ;u;

Craig had never wanted to join The Plundering Privateer.

Really, he could care less about being a pirate--it was a horrible lifestyle, having to be constantly surrounded by raucous, unhygienic, drunken men, sometimes for whole weeks or even  _ months _ on end before they could reach land. The only reason he put up with it was because he had no other choice in the matter.

Being out at sea was the fastest way to travel, and he needed to be able to cover as much distance as quickly as possible. His life was on a countdown, and every second wasted was a second closer to his early demise thanks to that damned sea wizard.

(Granted, it could be said that all people inched closer to death with every second that passed, but it was much easier to not take such a thing too seriously when you couldn’t see your remaining time counting down before your very eyes. Not to mention that the sea wizard had cut Craig’s remaining time in half, and then cut the  _ half _ in half out of pure  _ spite _ , the damn bastard.)

(Of course, that might have been because Craig had pissed the sea wizard off more than he already had been by flipping him off, but… okay, honestly he had no defense other than that the bastard deserved it.)

He’d already spent almost two years working as a deckhand--scrubbing the floors, moving cargo, working in the kitchen when necessary, and generally following the captain’s every order (because Craig had already been stupid enough to piss off one powerful being and was not about to risk pissing off another, especially not when the captain was his free ticket to travel the world)--but despite how many miles they’d traveled, Craig was no closer to finding the cure to his curse than he had been when he first set out.

So overall, this sucked. Big time. He was  _ literally _ wasting his life away on this ship, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.

The only choice he had was to keep enduring, and hope that his patience and resilience would reward him sometime before his clock struck zero.

* * *

It took another two weeks of gritting his teeth, ignoring his obnoxiously loud crewmates, and slogging through his chores before something completely out of the ordinary finally broke through the agonizing monotony of his life as a deckhand.

Granted, Craig hadn’t exactly expected that “something” to be a  _ mermaid _ that the captain and some of the burlier crewmates had captured and dumped into a large tank on board the ship, but considering how he’d gotten cursed by a sea wizard, he couldn’t bring himself to be too surprised about the existence of what he’d thought to be a mythical creature.

Craig observed from a safe distance, just within earshot but not close enough for anyone to take notice of him, as the mermaid (or was it a merman? It was hard to tell without getting a closer look, but the mer’s chest looked too flat to be female, so he guessed merman would be the right word) regained consciousness--and even as far away as he was, Craig could still see the moment that the merman’s confusion turned to panicked dread, followed quickly by the anger of a cornered animal as he thrashed around and tried to break out of the tank.

He couldn’t bring himself to feel surprised by the cruel, mocking laughter that he heard from the captain in response, though what  _ did _ surprise him was the flash of irritation that rushed through him in response, even as the scowl that worked its way onto his face unbidden quickly simmered down into his usual calm, apathetic expression.

It was only natural, he reasoned to himself, to dislike witnessing such a disgusting display of sadism--after all, as much as Craig liked to pretend that he was a selfish asshole, he wasn’t  _ completely _ heartless, which was unfortunately more than could be said for the majority of the pirates in existence. Of course it would rub him the wrong way, having to stay quiet and witness the captain being so heartless in the face of the merman’s clear terror.

Should he step in and help? No, that would just make things difficult for them both….

Craig barely had the chance to begin coming up with potential plans of action when a harsh shout jarred him from his thoughts, and he looked over towards the tank to find--to his morbid amusement and satisfaction--that one of the crewmates that had reached an arm into the tank had gotten a firsthand lesson in how dangerous a mer’s sharp teeth could be.

Served him right, the idiot.

He watched as the merman wiped the pirate’s blood off of his mouth and glared in warning, and they finally seemed to get the message through their thick skulls that this creature wasn’t about to give up without a fight.

Unfortunately, Craig knew that in the grand scheme of things, the merman wouldn’t be able to win: already, he could see the calculating gleam in the captain’s eyes that spelled trouble for whoever--or whatever--got in his way, and with how the merman was already removed from his natural habitat and trapped on a boat, in a tank that was just barely big enough to fit the entire length of his body and tail… the odds weren’t exactly in his favor, regardless of how sharp his teeth were or how quick he was to lash out.

That is, unless Craig lent him a hand.

It would be risky, going behind the captain’s--and the entire crew’s--back just to help a stranger that he hadn’t even exchanged a single word with yet, but… the pirate schtick just wasn’t doing enough to help him move forward with getting rid of his curse, and he had a feeling that he’d have a much higher chance of making progress working with a not-so-mythical creature than he ever would working with this bunch of violent, raucous idiots.

Provided he could get this merman to agree to work with him in the first place, but he would cross that bridge when he got to it.

For now, he had a plan to put together, a merman to rescue, and--hopefully--a curse to finally break.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes Cartman is the sea ~~witch~~ wizard à la Ursula, this was the only other concept that I had stuck in my head for this fic idea lmao


	4. Day Four: Space

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we have another chapter with a fic idea (human!Craig/alien!Tweek) that I never got around to using because I can't for the life of me write long fics lol;; But at least I get to use these ideas for this week, and just like with the last chapter, if anyone wants to take this idea and run with it you can feel free to! ;u; This one was very loosely inspired by [this art](https://twitter.com/wendy890203/status/787641286660546564), which should go to show just how long it's been since I've even thought about attempting longer SP fics lmao;;;

Of all the places to crash land, Earth was a pretty decent choice.

Granted, having to crash land on a foreign planet in a distant galaxy light years away from home wasn’t exactly great, nor was having to go on the run in the first place in order to avoid being killed in a revolutionary uprising against the royal family governing his planet, but… Earth wasn’t the worst place he could have landed, so Tweek figured the universe was giving him one small speck of positivity among all the fear and panic threatening to suffocate him.

It would defeat the purpose of fleeing for his life if he just keeled over and died from anxiety, though--not to mention how he was tired of banging his head on the ceiling of his ship from his bad habit of losing control of his grip on gravity and beginning to float each time he descended into panic, which would also be a  _ terrible _ thing to have happen when he needed to blend in on a foreign planet where the ruling creatures didn’t have the same ability to fly at will (or not-so-at will, in Tweek’s case)--so Tweek forced himself to take deep, calming breaths and turn his focus away from his negative thoughts.

Okay, so… Earth. Decent planet. Not too technologically advanced compared to what he was used to, nor was there much awareness of any happenings outside of their own tiny little galaxy in a far corner of the universe, but that could very easily work to Tweek’s advantage. His appearance wasn’t too dissimilar to the ruling creatures of this planet--their facial and body structures were generally the same, his hair color was a bit too bright but otherwise passable, his skin color was a bit off but he could adjust that, there weren’t any extra appendages that he needed to add in order to blend in (thankfully)--so he could fly under the radar on that aspect at least, and their language was simple enough compared to some of the more complex ones that he’d heard from foreign ambassadors that he was confident he could pick it up in just a day or two of scanning and studying. Cultural nuances and societal norms would take much longer to pick up on, since those weren’t things that he could research for fear of pulling up outdated information, so that might be the only trip-up as far as blending in and interacting with these “human” creatures, but Tweek considered himself a pretty decent actor if nothing else, so--as long as his anxiety didn’t kick in and ruin things for him, as it unfortunately tended to do--he was fairly-almost-kind of certain that he could pull this off.

Another small saving grace was the fact that his ship--while almost completely totaled from the crash--was still in enough of an operational capacity to be able to activate the camouflage function, keeping any of the humans in the small commune that he’d landed in from registering the presence of the ship that had very loudly and very noticeably crashed into their collective backyard. The camouflage deflected not only the ship’s visible presence, rendering it an invisible empty space to anyone that passed by, but also made it impossible for anyone to focus on even the idea of something out of the ordinary being there for longer than a second or two before their minds would drift off to other subjects.

Calling it mind control might be a bit much, but… well, okay, so he was pretty much mass-brainwashing all the humans in the area into not noticing his ship. Better to be safe than sorry, right?

Besides, this was just a temporary arrangement until Tweek could find enough materials to patch up his ship--which might take a while, given how Earth was severely lacking in technical resources on par with his ship’s, so Tweek would probably have to just improvise with whatever he could find--and then he would be off to find another planet to properly live on, preferably one that knew of his status on his planet and could accommodate him and provide him with updates until it was safe for him to return home.

He wasn’t intending on getting close with any of these humans. He just had to lie low and  _ survive _ \--nothing more, and nothing less.

* * *

Unfortunately, this was easier said than done.

The first--and biggest--issue with his plan to blend in and lie low while keeping interaction to a minimum was his age: apparently, humans in his age group were mandated by law to attend educational facilities during certain periods of the day. Getting himself enrolled in “high school” was a simple feat, since all he had to do was forge some documents and slip the necessary information into the school’s database so he could begin attending without drawing much attention to himself--but as for actually  _ attending _ the school…

Well, even if he could fool the computer system, he couldn’t fool the humans who had been attending this school for a long period of time, and who were immediately aware of someone new entering the facility.

He’d been hoping that the humans’ lack of technological advancements combined with how simple they were to mentally influence would mean that their observational skills were lacking, but apparently not. That would have been too easy.

So Tweek had no choice but to both attend this school, and to act the proper part of a transfer student--even if he had no idea how to go about “normally” interacting with these human kids when he hadn’t interacted with a single human yet, his age or otherwise.

He was flying blind at this point, and his only saving grace was that--after the first few days of being on the receiving end of a barrage of curious questions, ones that he could only just barely scrape together passable and unsuspicious answers for--the humans all quickly lost interest in him, apparently having accepted him either as a boringly normal new student, or a weird student that they didn’t want to interact with.

Tweek hoped it was the former, but honestly at this point, he would take any option that wasn’t someone discovering that he wasn’t human.

What’s worse was that even after the human students stopped paying attention to him, he still couldn’t let his guard down: while high school was a facility for learning new information--which was a perfect place for him, given how Tweek needed to gather as much information as possible to better blend in--it was also a  _ higher _ level of education, meaning that there were certain things that the adult humans expected their students to already know, and lessons that were taught with that assumption in mind.

Naturally, that left Tweek completely lost on certain subjects, and added one more thing onto his ever-growing list of things that he needed to do to avoid anyone becoming suspicious of him.

Honestly, if he didn’t need to be out and about gathering food and supplies to repair his ship--and didn’t want to attract attention to himself by getting in trouble with the human law enforcement for not attending school like all of the other humans his age--Tweek would have just given up and stayed cooped up inside his ship until it was safe to go back home. This was all  _ way _ too much pressure for him to handle all on his own.

Yet what other choice did he have?

So he focused on keeping his head down and drawing as little attention to himself as possible during the days at school, and he split his nights between gathering supplies, slowly working on repairs, and cramming as much human knowledge into his mind as he could manage. It was exhausting yet worthwhile, as he slowly but surely began to see results both in the state of his ship and in his academic standing at the educational facility after just a few weeks, making him feel the slightest bit more confident that he was handling things well enough.

Of course, he should have realized that this was just the calm before the storm. Tweek wasn’t meant to let his guard down--not on this foreign planet, and certainly not while he was trying to keep any of these ignorant humans from discovering that he wasn’t one of them.

All it took to ruin Tweek’s carefully-crafted status of social invisibility was for the adult human instructor to assign a “group project”, forcing all of the students to work in pairs over the course of a few weeks on something that--in Tweek’s honest opinion--could have easily been done on his own in just a few days at the most.

To make matters worse, Tweek had been paired up with  _ Craig Tucker _ of all humans.

He didn’t know anyone in this small commune all too well, but he knew enough about Craig to know that he was cold, rude, intimidating, and had a habit of constantly showing people the third finger on his hands (which Tweek had to look up the significance of the first time he saw both the gesture and people’s reactions to it, only to learn that it was a sign for something incredibly crude and disrespectful). All in all, he was someone that Tweek wanted to avoid at all costs, if only because being around him would draw attention to himself by association--and yet here he was, forced to spend extended periods of time outside of school with him, researching some topic about Earth’s geography that Tweek only had the bare minimum of knowledge about.

If Tweek’s anxiety was bad before, now it was through the roof.

He had absolutely no idea how to act around this human: Craig was practically impossible to read, and he made no attempts at trying to start a conversation when they were alone aside from brief, stilted comments about their project spoken in a bored tone, which… honestly wasn’t as bad as Tweek had braced himself for, but was still nerve wracking all the same.

And of course, because Tweek’s life wasn’t difficult enough as it was, all of his anxiety spikes were finally catching up to him in the worst way possible, making the one thing that he’d tried so hard to avoid happen at the worst possible moment.

The day started off simple enough: he’d gone to school like normal, going through the motions in his attempt to seem like a normal human while sketching out schematics in his notebook for the repairs that he could start working on with the supplies he’d managed to gather, before (reluctantly) meeting up with Craig after school to work on their school project together.

Except the library was closed because of a burst pipe in the building (Tweek hoped that the books weren’t damaged--primitive as they were, they were still valuable sources of information), which meant that they would have to work on their project somewhere that wasn’t a public space.

That was already enough to make Tweek break out in a nervous sweat, but of course Craig had to ask about going to his house to work on the project, since they wouldn’t be able to get much work done at Craig’s house with his parents home--which was a perfectly normal question to ask, save for the fact that Tweek didn’t  _ have _ a house, and that he’d avoided the subject of parents or family, and he had no idea how to come up with a believable excuse that wouldn’t sound suspicious, and--

And Craig was staring up at him.

Why was Craig staring up at him, when Craig was taller than--

Oh.

His feet weren’t on the ground anymore.

Fuck.

This was bad.

This was really, really,  _ really _ bad.

If Tweek thought it would be hard to come up with an explanation for not having a house or parents, then it was going to be  _ impossible _ to explain him suddenly--and  _ very _ noticeably--floating off the ground, accidentally or not, and all of Tweek’s panicking was just making it harder for him to regain enough control to force himself back to the ground, and the longer he was in the air for the harder this would be to come up with excuses for, which was making him panic even  _ more _ and--

And suddenly there was a hand on his shirt, tugging him back down to the ground, and two hands pressing down on his shoulders--not painfully, but almost like a small weight to keep him from floating away.

Tweek blinked in bewilderment as he looked at Craig, only to find the human watching him with his usual calm, impassive expression.

Where was the freakout? The questions? The demands for an explanation?

Tweek knew that humans couldn’t fly, he’d done enough research to know that was a concept that was firmly rooted in fantasy and science-fiction--yet Craig seemed to be just… accepting that Tweek had done something impossible right in front of him without even batting an eye.

“A-aren’t you going to say something?!” Tweek finally blurted out, the silence that dragged out between them feeling too stifling to bear for a single second longer.

Craig blinked, the slightest hint of a frown tugging at the corners of his lips. “No? You’re obviously already freaking out enough about this without me saying anything.”

That reply gave Tweek pause, completely catching him off-guard--and, ironically, Tweek felt his panic subsiding just the slightest bit in response to Craig’s display of consideration.

“Th-that’s, um… thank you?”

“Mhm.”

They lapsed into silence once more, giving Tweek a moment to breathe and gather enough composure to make sure his feet were firmly on the ground under his own power. Once he was sure he wouldn’t float off, he pulled away from Craig’s light hold on his shoulders and gave him a weak yet genuine smile.

“S-sorry,” he apologized reflexively, hesitating for a moment before reluctantly adding, “I guess I should probably… explain some things, huh.”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Craig replied with a shrug, looking as unfazed as ever. “I already have a few guesses, anyway.”

Guesses, Tweek could work with that. The less he himself had to say out loud, in public where anyone could hear him (god they were still outside, he was so ridiculously lucky that no one else had seen him--), the better.

“What are your guesses?” Tweek asked, with a hint of genuine curiosity.

“Hm… superpowers?” Craig said first, frowning slightly as Tweek shook his head. “Damn. Uh… well, then are you human at all?”

“No,” Tweek quietly--warily--admitted, his gaze flitting around nervously and his body tense as he prepared to flee the second he noticed someone listening in on them. When Craig remained silent, Tweek nervously added, “I’m… I guess in human terms, I would be considered an ‘extraterrestrial creature’.”

Craig stared for a moment longer, blinking slowly before responding, “You’re telling me you’re an  _ alien. _ ”

“Y… yes?”

“Oh. Cool.”

Tweek opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, closed it  _ again _ , before finally finding his voice.

“Th-that’s  _ it? _ That’s all you have to say?” he practically squeaked out, unsure of whether to feel relieved or insulted.

Here he was, stressing himself out practically to the point of a panic attack, and all Craig had to say about him not being human was “ _ cool _ ”?!

Craig hummed in thought, and then asked, “So, where’s your spaceship?”

Not exactly the question Tweek was expecting, but at least that was  _ some _ sort of response beyond indifference.

“It’s, um… hidden. I crash landed and didn’t want anyone to freak out.” When Craig continued to look at him almost expectantly, Tweek tentatively added, “D-do you, uh… want to see it?”

At this, there was finally a spark of interest in Craig’s gaze, even if his expression and tone both remained bored as always.

“Sure, why not.”

Tweek ran a hand through his hair, just barely stopping himself from gripping and pulling at it as another flash of panic washed over him. What the hell was he  _ doing _ , just…  _ inviting _ a human over to see his ship? Was this some sort of plot? A trap? Was Craig messing with his head to try and get him to lower his guard, so he could tell all the other humans and then they could all come after him together and capture him and experiment on him and torture him and--

“Tweek?”

Tweek let out a yelp as he was pulled from his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder--and for a moment he feared that he’d started panic-floating again, but his gravity was still perfectly centered and his feet were still firmly on the ground, so why…

He took a better look at Craig’s face, and though his expression hadn’t changed much, there was a slight furrow to his brows that made Tweek wonder if maybe--just maybe--Craig was actually  _ worried _ about him.

Even if Tweek was reading too much into it, the thought brought with it more relief than he ever would have expected as he belatedly realized just how  _ draining _ it was to watch everything he said and everything he did, living a lie among foreign creatures on a foreign planet light years away from home. When was the last time he had someone to worry about him or care about him?

It felt like forever since the last time he’d seen his family, or any friendly faces at all.

Tweek let out a long breath, his shoulders sagging slightly as he gave Craig a weak yet genuine smile.

“S-sorry. I’m okay. If you want to see it, then… let’s go.”

There was something about Craig’s complete lack of judgement--almost a lack of interest entirely, but not quite, as Tweek was beginning to realize--that made Tweek feel the slightest bit more at ease, and though it might have been foolish of him, he found himself wanting to trust this human.

(Funny how even just a day ago, he’d been dreading being in Craig’s presence for more than a few seconds.)

Tweek led the way towards the edge of town, a small hint of amusement tugging at the corners of his lips as he saw a flash of confusion on Craig’s face as they came to a stop in front of what (to him) looked to be an empty, nondescript piece of land.

In response to Craig’s unspoken question, Tweek turned his attention down to the portable monitor strapped to his wrist--similar enough in appearance to pass for a human “wristwatch”, though from the few comments he’d gotten on it it was apparently a much more expensive-looking design than what a normal kid his age would be able to afford, so he’d had to play it off as a gift--and pressed a finger to the screen, typing out a quick sequence and grinning as he heard Craig take a sharp breath in response.

There was no need to ask whether Craig could see the ship now, not when one glance in his direction showed Craig staring up at the ship in awe, looking more expressive than Tweek had ever seen him in the few weeks he’d known him for.

“Let’s go inside,” Tweek said, snapping Craig out of his stupor--and though it was clear that he was trying to compose himself and return to his usual expression of boredom, there was no hiding the glimmer of excitement in his eyes as he followed Tweek into the ship, nor was there any hiding the way Craig’s gaze darted around as he tried to take in every last detail of the ship’s interior once they were inside.

Tweek had been bracing himself for the worst for so long now, that seeing a human responding  _ positively _ to concrete proof that Tweek wasn’t from Earth was enough to cause relieved laughter to bubble up in his chest. He made sure not to let the laughter slip out, of course, since he didn’t want to offend Craig, but it was hard to repress a smile even when Craig turned to look at him.

“If you have questions--” Tweek began, only for Craig to open his mouth, as if he’d just barely been restraining himself until Tweek gave him the go-ahead.

“What planet are you from? No, wait, what  _ galaxy? _ How many planets are out there with life on them? What’s space travel like? Why did you come to Earth? How are you speaking English? Do you float because you’re used to a different acceleration of gravity than the one on Earth? How does the camouflage shield on your ship work? Do you really look like a human or is that just a disguise? What--”

Tweek couldn’t help it: he’d already been trying so hard to restrain it, but after hearing the barrage of enthusiastic questions from the normally quiet and surly human, Tweek’s laughter overflowed and filled the room, even as he hastily tried to stifle the sound behind his hands.

“S-sorry, sorry!” he hastily apologized, when Craig cut himself off and looked at him. “I’m not laughing at you, I swear! I-I just-- I was so scared this whole time of someone finding out, and then you did, and you’re just-- I wasn’t expecting you to be so  _ excited _ , is all-- n-not that that’s a bad thing! I’m glad you’re excited, honest! I’d rather you be excited than freaking out or angry or trying to attack me or trying to kidnap me and tie me up and bring me to one of those human ‘labs’ to be dissected and--”

“Dude, how many sci-fi movies did you watch?” Craig asked incredulously.

Tweek glanced away sheepishly. “Probably more than I should have. I was trying to figure out how much humans know about life outside of their own planet, and, um… well, I learned that humans have very vivid--and very cruel and violent--imaginations, to say the least.”

“Look, whatever you watched or ‘researched’ or whatever… you really don’t have to worry about it.  _ Especially _ not in this town.” When Tweek gave Craig a confused look, Craig let out a quiet, amused huff of laughter as he added, “All of the adults in this town are morons, and all the kids are so used to crazy shit happening that no one would even bat an eye at an alien just waltzing in and making himself at home.”

Tweek blushed lightly in chagrin. “I-I… I wasn’t  _ waltzing in and making myself at home _ , I was just… like I told you before, I crash landed, and I needed to try and blend in to move around freely and find supplies for my ship--but, well… I’m glad to hear that, at least? I guess?”

Craig hummed in thought for a moment. “What sort of supplies? Anything I could help you get?”

“You… want to help me?”

Tweek stared at Craig in stunned surprise, though he couldn’t help but soften his expression slightly as his disbelief caused Craig to glance away in clear embarrassment--or at least, clear in the way that Tweek was slowly but surely beginning to learn how to understand, with how much more subtle Craig’s visible range of emotions was compared to the other humans that he’d met so far.

“I would appreciate it,” Tweek said, before Craig could so much as open his mouth to answer Tweek’s (mostly) rhetorical question. Giving him a small smile, he added, “Thank you, Craig.”

Craig shrugged weakly. “Not like there’s anything else to do in this town anyway, and, uh….”

“And you want to learn more about my ship?” Tweek finished, when Craig trailed off into silence.

“Your ship, and you,” Craig replied--and now it was Tweek’s turn to fall silent, his cheeks heating up slightly in flustered surprise.

Of course, he knew that Craig just meant that he wanted to learn more about Tweek as a different species, and not as a person, but… after being on the receiving end of Craig’s kind consideration towards him, his mind couldn’t help but consider the possibility that Craig meant what he said at face-value.

The more Tweek dwelled on the idea of getting to know Craig, and Craig getting to know him in return, the more he realized that it wouldn’t be too bad of an experience at all. At the very least, he’d already learned firsthand that Craig was much nicer than he seemed--and after spending so many weeks on his own, it would be nice to have an actual  _ friend _ on this planet to talk to and be honest with--so of course Tweek found his smile widening the slightest bit as he nodded in agreement.

“Then you can help me out with my ship and answer my questions about humans, and I can show you around my ship and answer any questions you have.”

Craig’s expression relaxed the slightest bit in relief, the corners of his lips curving upward just the slightest bit as he held his hand out to Tweek.

“Sounds like a deal to me.”

Though Tweek wasn’t personally accustomed to the gesture, he’d seen it enough times in the course of his research to recognize it and to know how to reciprocate, as he grasped Craig’s hand in his own and sealed the deal between them.

This was going to be the start of an interesting relationship, to say the least--and Tweek, despite all the nervous trepidation he’d held from the moment he first landed on Earth, found himself looking forward to every second of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow this one was a lot longer than I realized sdkfj I hope it was at least a decent read!! ;u;


	5. Day Five: Pumpkin Carving

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know why my brain was drawing a blank for ideas for today's prompt ksjdf so I hope this is good enough ;u;

“Careful… careful…  _ gah _ \-- Craig, don’t put your fingers there, you’re going to cut yourself!!”

Craig rolled his eyes in fond exasperation, but otherwise ignored his boyfriend fretting over his shoulder and kept concentrating on carving designs into each of their pumpkins.

Normally he wouldn’t care about getting involved with pumpkin carving, but after dealing with the combination of seeing Tweek’s fingers littered with bandages and having to listen to Cartman gloating about how he was going to make the  _ best _ pumpkins this year… well, needless to say, Craig’s tune did a complete 180.

The last thing he wanted was to just sit by and watch Tweek get hurt, even if it was just a few nicks on his fingers--not to mention how he always welcomed an opportunity to shut Cartman up and put him in his place.

So now here he was, sitting in Tweek’s garage with Tweek hovering nearby nervously, meticulously cutting the intricate designs that Tweek had come up with into each pumpkin one line at a time (starting with his boyfriend’s pumpkin, of course). Tweek had even gone the extra mile and not only designed his own pumpkin, but drew out a cool Red Racer design that would make the car light up once they put candles inside, just for Craig.

Tweek was the best boyfriend  _ ever _ .

“Don’t worry, I promise I’m being careful,” he finally responded to Tweek’s anxious commentary, taking a small break to wipe his carving knife clean and carefully push out the small bits of pumpkin that he’d cut. “See? Everything’s going fine, babe, no need to panic.”

Tweek let out a breath, and Craig wasn’t sure whether his boyfriend was more irritated or relieved by Craig’s calm reassurances--but regardless, Tweek looked like he was relaxing the slightest bit, and as far as Craig was concerned, that’s what was most important.

“You’re-- _ nngh _ \--really good at this, huh,” Tweek commented, sitting down next to Craig so he could take a closer look at what he had finished so far.

Craig shrugged. “Not really.” Teasingly, he added, “It helps that I’m not vibrating while trying to use a knife.”

Tweek huffed and gave him a light shove, the corners of his mouth twitching as he tried to fight back a smile. “Jerk.”

“Love you too,” Craig drawled in response, amusement shining in his gaze as Tweek flushed and gave his side another shove in response.

Tweek was seriously too cute when he got flustered. It didn’t help that it was easy to get him worked up, making it all too tempting for Craig to push his boyfriend’s buttons with his usual deadpan snark.

Unfortunately, as much as he would love to spend all day lightheartedly teasing Tweek, he knew that these pumpkins weren’t going to carve themselves--and considering how he was only halfway done with Tweek’s and still had to work on his own, he needed all the time that he could get if he wanted to make sure that these pumpkins blew Cartman’s (and the rest of his annoying group’s) carvings out of the water.

With Tweek coming up with the designs and Craig making them into a reality, there was no way they would lose.


	6. Day Six: Demons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween, everyone! Today we have yet another chapter with a fic idea that I never got around to writing lol;; I'm not sure how many people are familiar with the game Forest of Drizzling Rain/Kirisame ga Furu Mori, but this AU is loosely based off of that game, except I ended up inadvertently making things worse for Craig by fitting it with the demon prompt :') Whoops?
> 
> I know the majority of it is setup ~~and it's probably only so long because once I included Stan the dialogue just started flowing lol~~ but I hope it's an enjoyable read nonetheless! ^^

Tweek Tweak was eighteen years old when his parents passed away.

It was an instantaneous death, which was the only small bit of comfort that Tweek was able to pull from the horrific disaster: it had been raining, and due to the low visibility and the wet roads, a truck had careened around a corner far more quickly than it should have and hadn’t seen their car in time to stop.

Now Tweek--old enough to be considered a legal adult, but still too young to properly feel ready to live without any adults to rely on in case he got in over his head--was left with a large, empty house and a business that he hadn’t planned on inheriting for at least a few more years. At least his parents’ life insurance had paid off, and that plus their savings would pay for everything until Tweek could gather his bearings and figure out what he was going to do with the rest of his life.

Which was good, because there was no way he would have been able to catch a bus to some town in the middle of nowhere if he’d had to worry about paying for the house’s mortgage or the business’s rent.

It was a reckless decision, for sure, but… upon going through his parents’ belongings--very much reluctantly, with a heavy heart and shaking hands--he came across an old photo album that he, despite being a young child in a good portion of the pictures, couldn’t ever once remember seeing. He knew it was a bit odd that he had no memories of anything before fifth grade, but he never thought much about it with how much his mind stressed him out over everything else in his life--after, all, surely there were plenty of people who couldn’t remember that far back in their childhood, right?

Yet now that his parents were gone, Tweek was beginning to realize that he had  _ questions _ , things that he’d wanted to know the answers to but hadn’t had the nerve to ask. Even if the answers died with his parents, there was still a small chance that he could find  _ something _ if he went back to the town that his parents had been born and raised in, the same town that he’d spent the first nine years of his life in before his parents had taken him and moved away for, what Tweek’s father had told him, business reasons.

Was it really because of his father’s business, though? Or was there some sort of hidden reason? Even if Tweek couldn’t remember anything from when he’d lived in that town, and even if his parents were gone, there had to be  _ someone _ who still lived there that would know something, right?

Worst case scenario, Tweek wouldn’t find anything, and he would just go back home and figure out where to go from there. There was no harm in trying to seek answers, even if the anxious voice in the back of his head was freaking out over going to some small town far away from any big cities, where he could be easily mugged or kidnapped or killed or--

Well. He supposed in that case, he would just be seeing his parents sooner than expected, not that he  _ wanted _ to die of course.

In any case, Tweek had already come too far to turn back now, after packing an overnight bag and catching the first bus of what would be many before he arrived at his final destination:

The small mountain town known as “South Park”.

* * *

Unfortunately, it seemed like Tweek’s trip was about to end prematurely.

When he got off of the next bus, already feeling completely drained from the long trip, it was to his dread that he discovered that the final bus--the only bus that traveled to and from South Park--was no longer in service.

What’s worse was only discovering this after two pointless hours of waiting around for a bus that was, apparently, never going to come.

Tweek let out a long, frustrated groan, slumping down on the rickety bench in front of the bus stop. This was what he got for only doing a quick search for directions, instead of taking the time to make a proper plan of action.

(Even if him stopping to plan everything out would have given him ample opportunity to talk himself out of trying to go to his parents’ hometown to begin with.)

Just as he pulled out his phone to try and look up the times for the trip back home, there was the sudden sound of a car engine coming from the distance, startling Tweek enough that he nearly ended up dropping his phone as he hastily jumped to his feet.

A car driving down an empty road, in the middle of nowhere? This was starting to feel eerily close to a horror movie….

Tweek’s anxiety spiked as the car slowed to a stop in front of him, and he only just barely swallowed down the scream that threatened to spill past his lips when the car window lowered.

“No way…  _ Tweek?! _ ”

Before Tweek could question how the  _ hell _ this stranger knew his name, the guy--a dark-haired young man who looked to be around Tweek’s age--shut off his car and practically jumped out of the driver's seat, rushing around from the driver’s side so he could approach him.

It was only a dim spark of recognition in the back of Tweek’s mind that stopped him from running as fast as his legs would take him in response.

“Dude, what are you doing out here?” the stranger asked, in a tone that was both incredulous and curious at the same time--though when Tweek gave no response, his enthusiasm seemed to die down into sheepishness as he added, “Uh, you…  _ are _ Tweek, right? Tweek Tweak?”

“Y-yes?” Tweek replied, against his better judgment. “I just-- I don’t-- h-how do you--”

Realization flashed across the stranger’s expression, followed by a guilty grimace. “Ah, right. I guess you wouldn’t remember, huh,” he muttered, looking a bit downcast as he said so--and the one good thing that Tweek could take from all of this was that this person, whoever he was, was expressive enough to make Tweek feel marginally more safe around him.

He seemed like the kind of person that wore his heart on his sleeve, and people like that were  _ much _ easier to read the intentions of than someone whose expressions were more reserved, or more calculated.

“Guess I should start from the beginning, then?” the stranger continued, his grimace shifting to a small smile as he met Tweek’s eyes. “My name’s Stan--Stan Marsh. We used to go to elementary school together back in South Park, before… well, before you and your parents moved away.”

There was a pause there, a hint of hesitance that Tweek immediately noticed--and that he pounced on just as quickly.

“Did something happen?” he pressed, hardly even caring if he was being rude at this point--he was exhausted from the long trip, and fed up from having more questions than answers, and still grieving over the loss of his parents, and stressed to the max from throwing himself into this situation to begin with. “When my parents and I left South Park, I mean. D-did-- was there some sort of reason for us just suddenly-- _ nngh _ \-- **_leaving_ ** like that?”

Stan frowned. “Dude, why are you asking me? Why not just ask your parents if you want to know?”

“My parents died,” Tweek replied bluntly--perhaps a bit  _ too _ bluntly, if the widening of Stan’s eyes and his sharp intake of breath was any indication. “I… I didn’t even remember South Park  _ existed _ until I was going through their stuff,” he continued, his trembling hands clenching into fists at his sides. “I have questions, and the only people who could have given me answers are gone, so I wanted to… I don’t even know--go to South Park, talk to people, try and figure  _ something _ out--but now I got all the way here only to find out that the bus doesn’t even  _ go _ to South Park anymore, and--”

Tweek paused, realization lighting up his eyes as he breathed out, “Wait, you-- you were driving in the direction of South Park, right? If you’re from South Park then you were probably on your way back there, right? Can you take me with you?!”

“Uh… I don’t know if that’s a good idea, dude,” Stan replied hesitantly, breaking eye contact with Tweek as he added, “There’s… not exactly any hotels in South Park, and I’d put you up at my place but… well, I’m staying with my parents, and we don’t have a guest room, and I don’t really know where else you could stay--”

“I’ll figure something out,” Tweek insisted, even if he was lying through his teeth--he genuinely hadn’t thought as far as finding a place to stay the night, and he hadn’t anticipated the town being so small that it didn’t have a hotel that he could stay in. “ _ Please _ Stan, this-- _ nngh _ \--is  **_important_ ** .”

Stan stole a few glances back at him nervously, before finally relenting with a drawn-out sigh as his shoulders slumped. “Well, it’s not like I can just  _ leave _ you here, so… alright, I guess.”

Tweek would normally feel terrible for pushing someone like this, but right now all he could feel was relief and giddy excitement--he was making  _ progress _ , and now had a ride into South Park with someone who had grown up there and who at least somewhat knew him.

“Thank you!! I-I don’t have much, but I’ll pay whatever I can to cover gas for the trip and--”

“Dude, it’s fine, don’t sweat it,” Stan quickly waved him off, before going and picking up Tweek’s overnight bag from where Tweek had left it next to the bench. “C’mon, get in. It’s starting to get dark.”

Though Tweek was a bit wary, having a person touching his stuff who wasn’t family or a friend (not to mention the fact that he was going to be  _ getting into a stranger’s car _ and trusting him to not kidnap him or crash the car and get them both killed or any number of other scenarios), Stan was just familiar enough to ease Tweek’s usual anxiety-driven worries, as if he’d spent enough time in Stan’s presence in the past that he couldn’t bring himself to see him as a stranger even with the gap in his memories.

He had no idea if they had been friends in the past--and if so, why hadn’t Stan attempted to stay in contact with him after he moved away?--but right now, in this unfamiliar place, with his only family long out of his reach, Tweek would take any scraps of  _ familiarity _ that he could get.

Tweek was so caught up in his own thoughts that he almost missed the way Stan pinched the bridge of his nose as he muttered a single sentence under his breath.

“ _ He is  _ **_so_ ** _ going to kill me for this. _ ”

“What? Who is? For what?”

Stan jumped slightly at the sudden flood of questions from Tweek, laughing sheepishly as he waved a hand flippantly.

“Nothing, it’s nothing! Just talking to myself, don’t worry about it.” Clearly eager to move on, he got into the driver’s side of the car as he said, “C’mon, let’s go!”

Though Tweek still wasn’t happy about being left in the dark, he was at least willing to let one small comment slide--even if he was just worried that pushing Stan too much might result in him retracting his agreement to drive him to South Park--and so he got into the passenger’s seat without wasting any more time, buckling in and bracing himself for the long ride into a town that would either provide him with the answers he was looking for, or more questions than he already had.

* * *

Thankfully, the car ride with Stan was surprisingly pleasant: regardless of whether it was because he was incredibly observant, or because Tweek just hadn’t changed that much from when he was a child, Stan seemed to somehow tell that Tweek didn’t handle long stretches of silence well, and he managed to fill the void between them with a mixture of facts about himself and stories from their childhood.

Even if Tweek couldn’t share in Stan’s memories, it was still nice to just feel  _ included _ . He hadn’t realized how hard it had been on him, going through life without having any fond childhood memories to look back on, until he was hearing someone talk about things that they’d done in elementary school that he himself had been a part of.

Before he knew it, a large sign saying  _ WELCOME TO SOUTH PARK _ became visible in the distance, along with the smattering of colored rooftops on the snowy, mountainous terrain.

At long last, he was finally here.

Now… he just had to figure out what to do next.

As Stan had warned him, there was no hotel--which was weird, almost like the town wasn’t  _ meant _ to have visitors staying for longer than a day trip--but Tweek was determined not to let this deter him.

“Is my old house still there?” he asked Stan, who nodded with a frown.

“Yeah, but someone else moved there a while back… I mean, they might be willing to let you take a look around, but I don’t know if they’d have any answers for you or anything.”

Tweek couldn’t help but frown as well--he’d been hoping that there was at least some family members living there, but apparently not. Which meant the only option left was….

“Tweak Bros.”

Stan flinched, and Tweek immediately knew that--for better or worse--he’d just struck gold.

“Stan, bring me to Tweek Bros. The building’s still there, right?”

“I, uh… I don’t think that’s a good idea--”

“Why not?” Tweek challenged, leaning around to meet Stan’s eyes when the other tried to look away. “I’m sure my dad must have said  _ something _ to the owners of the building when he broke the lease and left, so if I could just go there and get some information--”

Stan grimaced. “Dude,  _ seriously _ , going there is  _ not _ a good idea at  **_all_ ** .”

“ _ Nngh _ \--again,” Tweek replied, his already-thin patience beginning to wear down even further, “ _ why not? _ ”

“It’s-- well, uh-- the building has an… infestation problem! So it’s empty! No one’s there for you to talk to!”

Tweek gave Stan an unimpressed look. “You’re telling me it’s had one for almost  _ ten years? _ ”

“It’s… a really bad infestation?”

Tweek continued to hold Stan’s gaze with a flat look until Stan finally leaned forward in his seat with a long, defeated sigh, his head coming to rest against the steering wheel.

“Dude, since when were you this headstrong?” Stan asked with a touch of wryness as he glanced at Tweek out of the corner of his eye. “You’re like a totally different person.”

“I’m-- _ nngh _ \--not, trust me,” Tweek replied in an equally wry tone, a small, nervous smile working its way onto his face. “Honestly, I’m freaking the hell out right now--but I just… I need to do this. I’m going to end up  _ obsessing _ over not knowing why there’s such a huge gap in my memories until I get some answers, and my anxiety’s already bad enough as it is.”

Stan let out a weak laugh at that. “Fair. Just… be careful, alright? I don’t know the full story myself, but….”

Tweek watched as Stan’s smile fell, his heart dropping as a feeling of dread suddenly washed over him.

Suddenly, he realized that all of Stan’s warnings may have been for good reason.

“Stan, please… if you know anything at all--” Tweek began desperately, only to be cut off by Stan shaking his head.

“You came to South Park for answers, right? So you should get those answers from someone who knows the full story. It’d just end up confusing you even more if I tried to tell you what little that I know--but… the only thing I can tell you is that it might not be safe for you to stay here for too long.”

“What?” Tweek frantically searched Stan’s expression in hopes of finding something that would indicate that Stan had only been joking, but to his utter dread, it looked like Stan was completely serious.

What kind of town  _ was _ South Park…? Why would it be dangerous for him?

“I don’t-- i-if it’s so dangerous, then why did you come back here?” Tweek asked.

Stan glanced away guiltily. “I… have my own circumstances, I guess you could say. That’s not important, though--I brought you here because I didn’t want to just leave you on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere when it was getting dark out, but I don’t want you staying here for longer than necessary and putting yourself in danger either, alright? So… I’ll drive you to Tweak Bros tonight, and then tomorrow I’ll drive you back to the nearest bus so you can head home.”

Though Stan’s response left him with more questions than answers, Tweek could recognize a compromise when he saw one--and even if he had no intentions of leaving this town without the answers he’d come here for, dangers be damned, he still gave Stan a nod in response.

Stan gave him a small, relieved smile and started his car back up, pulling back out onto the road and driving through what was a foreign yet disorientingly familiar neighborhood. The trip took hardly a few more minutes, in which Tweek anxiously turned over the small scraps of information that he’d gotten from his conversation with Stan while trying not to let his imagination get the best of him, before the car finally came to a stop in front of a decrepit, abandoned building on the corner of the street.

“It used to be a lot livelier in this area, before…,” Stan said, trailing off into silence for a moment before shaking his head and turning to face Tweek. “Look, I’m going to be honest with you for a minute: I still don’t think you should go in there. There’s… someone living there, someone that doesn’t want you to be anywhere  _ near _ South Park let alone in it. He’s going to be really,  _ really _ pissed that I brought you here, but… if you still want to go in there, then just brace yourself, because he’s not exactly the most sociable guy--for good reason. You’ll get it when you see him, if you can look at him without freaking out anyway,” he added in a wry, humorless tone. “Most people can’t. It’s why he lives over here, and why this area is so dead now.”

This, of course, left Tweek with even  _ more _ questions than he’d had before, and he could only hope that this mysterious, antisocial person--who apparently hated him enough to not want him anywhere near this town, despite Tweek not knowing who this guy even  _ was _ \--would have the answers that he was looking for.

“Thanks for the warning,” Tweek said, as he opened the door to get out of the car. He gave Stan a weak half-smile as he added, “And thanks for driving me all the way here, even if I kinda… forced you to do it.”

“You didn’t force me to do anything, dude. Like I said, I couldn’t just  _ leave _ you there,” Stan replied easily, a more natural smile working its way back onto his face. He dug around in the glove compartment of his car while Tweek got his bag out from the back seat, pulling out a piece of paper and quickly scribbling something on it before holding it out to Tweek through the car window. “Here’s my phone number, and my parents’ address. Just give me a call tomorrow and I’ll come pick you up--and, uh… if… all of this doesn’t work out and you need a place to sleep, I’m sure my parents wouldn’t mind having an extra person around for one night, though you might have to crash on the couch.”

Tweek accepted the paper with a hint of surprise, before his expression shifted into a more genuine look of gratitude. “Thanks, Stan. I really am sorry for all the trouble.”

“Don’t mention it,” Stan replied with a flippant wave of his hand, before laughing nervously as he added, “Seriously--don’t mention it, please. I’d prefer if he didn’t know that I was the one to bring you back here, even if I’m driving you back out first thing in the morning.”

Tweek pocketed the paper and gave Stan a nod, figuring the least he could do after Stan helped him get this far was to listen to his one request.

Satisfied, Stan bid him goodnight and rolled up the window, and Tweek took that as his cue to step onto the sidewalk with his bag in hand, watching as Stan drove away before working up the courage to turn and face the small yet imposing entranceway to what had at one time been a simple Tweak Bros coffee shop.

It was pitch black inside, as far as Tweek could see, which was a bit odd considering Stan’s claims that someone was living there--but maybe he was out? Or already asleep?

Only one way to find out, he supposed.

Tweek tentatively tried the front door and found--to his wary surprise--that it was unlocked, which  _ hopefully _ meant that whoever was inside (if there even  _ was _ anyone inside) wouldn’t be too angry if he entered.

“H-hello?” he nervously called out, stepping into the dark, decrepit coffee shop and glancing around in the dim lighting of the moon. “Is anyone here?”

“ **_Leave._ ** ”

Tweek jumped and yelped at the sudden voice, his eyes widen and his heart leaping up into his throat.

That… hadn’t sounded like a normal person. In fact, it sounded like the person’s voice had been echoing all around him, rather than coming from any particular direction inside the shop.

“P-please, I just… I want to know what’s going on,” Tweek tried again, taking a step forward into the darkness--only to stumble backwards as he felt some sort of invisible  _ force _ pushing back against him.

“ **_You aren’t supposed to be here. Leave this place. Leave this town._ ** **_Now_ ** **_._ ** ”

Of course, he’d already expected this reaction--at least somewhat--given Stan’s warning, but to hear it spelled out so bluntly….

Even more than fear or hurt, Tweek felt indignant  _ anger _ bubbling up inside of him as he clenched his shaking hands into fists.

“No! I’m-- _ nngh _ \--s-sick and tired of being told that I’m  _ not supposed _ to be here! I lost my parents, I don’t have my memories, and I just! Want! To know!  _ Why! _ ”

There was silence in the wake of Tweek’s outburst, save for the sound of Tweek’s heavy breaths--and just as he was about to shout at the mysterious person for ignoring him, he suddenly became aware of a heavy pressure filling the room, followed quickly by the sudden appearance of two red lights that were slowly moving closer towards him.

No.

Those weren’t lights.

Those were  _ eyes _ .

Red, glowing  **_eyes_ ** .

Tweek’s anger immediately bled away as he lapsed back into fear, and it took everything in his power to keep himself rooted to his spot instead of turning tail and running away like every last nerve in his body was screaming at him to do.

“ **_This place is cursed. If you don’t leave, then--_ ** ”

The person cut off, and Tweek could have sworn he heard the slightest hitch in his otherwise level--almost monotone--voice.

“ **_Then all of this would have been for nothing. Just_ ** **_leave_ ** **_already!_ ** ”

Tweek’s heart dropped, this time not in terror but in sympathy. Even if it was hard to tell at first, from how harsh yet flat the voice sounded, Tweek could hear a distinct undercurrent of desperation in his tone.

He’d assumed when Stan first warned him that this guy didn’t want him anywhere near South Park that he hated him, but hearing him now… was it possible that this guy was just worried about him, just like Stan had been?

“I’m not leaving,” Tweek replied, his voice soft yet firm as he locked gazes with the red eyes in the darkness. “I don’t know what’s going on with this town, or what it has to do with me, but… I want to know.  _ Please _ .”

This time, when he took a careful step forward, there was no resistance--which Tweek took as a good sign, allowing him to keep moving forward as he continued to speak.

“Can you at least tell me who you are, and how you know me?”

Tweek’s questions were met with a long stretch of silence, but this time Tweek was more than willing to wait--he could practically  _ feel _ the person’s resolve breaking down bit by bit, and he knew that it was only a matter of time before he got the answers he’d been seeking.

“ **_I can’t tell you how I know you, and you’re better off not knowing who I am._ ** ”

“I don’t care if I’m  _ better off _ not knowing. I  _ want _ to know,” Tweek insisted.

When that got no response, Tweek let out a quiet, frustrated huff before deciding to take matters into his own hands as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.

If this person wouldn’t show himself and properly introduce himself, then Tweek had no other choice but to shed a bit of light on him himself--literally, in this case.

He turned on the flashlight on his phone and pointed it in the direction of the glowing red eyes, only to nearly drop his phone with a startled yelp at the vision before him.

Of course, he’d had his suspicions in the back of his mind as soon as he’d seen the red eyes in the darkness, but nothing could have prepared him for the sight of what Tweek could only describe as a  _ demon _ standing in front of him: he could make out dark hair on a human-like face, but the visible fangs in his mouth as he grimaced and the claws on his hands as he lifted them to shield his eyes from the sudden light were clear indicators that the person in front of him wasn’t human--as were the sight of two large, bat-like wings towering behind him, the curled horns protruding from either side of his head, and the forked tail whipping behind him in a clear display of irritation.

“God _ dammit _ Tweek, shut that thing off!”

The response was so  _ normal _ that Tweek couldn’t help but scramble to turn off the light with a hasty apology, his cheeks flushing lightly in chagrin.

There was another few seconds of grumbling before the lights suddenly flickered to life, bringing to sharp focus both the run-down state of the store itself and the appearance of the demonic figure standing before him.

Now that Tweek could better observe him, he looked pretty normal, inhuman features notwithstanding: the guy had a human face, and arms and legs and hands and feet just like any other person--he was just… a bit more intimidating to look at, that’s all.

“Well?” the demon(?) asked sharply, after a moment or two longer of Tweek staring at him in silence. “Aren’t you going to scream? Freak out? Run away? I’m waiting.”

Despite the potential danger of the situation, Tweek couldn’t help but let out a snort of laughter.

“You know, it’s harder to be scared when you’re telling me you’re waiting for me to freak out.”

(Granted, Tweek still was internally panicking--but it was easier not to let it show when this guy was  _ expecting _ him to act like that. If nothing else, Tweek was an  _ excellent _ actor, and had almost perfected the art of appearing to be a completely normal person after spending as many years as he could remember struggling to function without freaking out over every little thing.)

This seemed to throw the guy off his game just the slightest bit, his sharp gaze and expressionless face shifting into something that almost looked startled for a split-second before dropping into annoyed resignation.

“Fine. Whatever. You saw me, now  _ leave _ .”

“But _why?_ **_Why_** do I have to leave?” Tweek pressed, his own frustration matching the stranger’s.

“I already told you--”

“No! You didn’t  _ tell me _ anything!” Tweek cut him off. “All you  _ told me _ is that I’m not supposed to be here, and that this place is cursed, but that doesn’t explain anything!”

The stranger let out a sigh that sounded more like an irritated hiss, and for a moment Tweek had a brief flash of fear that he’d pushed too much--yet despite how much he was apparently getting on this guy’s nerves, he wasn’t actually  _ doing _ anything to force him out of here besides trying (unsuccessfully) to scare him off.

His previous suspicion that this guy was just worried about him returned to the forefront of his mind, and he found that it made about as much sense as anything else was making right now, even if Tweek had no idea why some demon that he didn’t even know would be  _ worried _ about his safety.

Unless--

“Wait-- do I… know you?” Tweek asked tentatively, something in the back of his mind beginning to fit into place the longer he looked at the stranger’s face.

Now that he thought about it, this guy  _ did _ feel a bit familiar, though he had a feeling he hadn’t looked like this the last time he’d--

“ _ No _ ,” the stranger replied, much too forcefully--much too hastily--to be the truth. “You don’t know me. You  _ can’t _ know me, and you can’t know anything about this place. It’s already dangerous as it is that you’re here, and….”

He trailed off for a moment, before dropping his gaze with a frustrated expression.

“I did everything in my power to keep you safe, to keep you away from this town, so  _ why _ \-- why are you here…?”

Shaking his head slightly, he looked back up at Tweek with a hardened expression, his gaze wiped clean of any emotion.

“You won’t get any answers here. Now leave this place, and never come back.”

Before Tweek could open his mouth to argue with him, the stranger lifted an arm and waved it in his direction, his eyes glowing a bright red--and suddenly, there was a gust of wind so strong that it knocked Tweek straight off his feet, sending him flying backwards with a startled shout.

He feared for a moment that he would end up painfully slamming into the closed doors behind him, but instead found himself hitting the sidewalk outside, the doors having opened on their own. Disoriented, Tweek could only just barely manage to lift his head in time to catch the small, resigned smile on the stranger’s face--along with the gaze that watched him, filled in equal parts with a startling amount of warmth and despair--before the doors suddenly slammed shut, locking him out of the building.

Tweek pushed himself up to his feet, finding to his surprise that he wasn’t even the slightest bit bruised or scuffed up from the fall, before rushing over to the doors and cursing under his breath as they refused to budge no matter how much he pulled on them.

“Dammit!! Open up!!” Tweek exclaimed, banging on the doors in both an attempt to get them open and just to vent his overwhelming frustration. “I don’t-- _ agh _ \--c-care if you’re trying to keep me safe, just let me in-- _ nngh _ \--and answer my damn questions!!”

His irritation reached its zenith as he kicked the door, only to let out a pained yelp and grab his throbbing foot.

“ _ Goddammit Craig!! Let me in!! _ ”

Tweek continued to fume and curse for a good few minutes as he fought with the door before finally giving up, his breaths coming in gasps and his shoulders shaking from physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion.

“I’m not leaving,” he declared, knowing that the stranger was most likely still listening from the other side of the door. “I’m coming back here tomorrow, and you’d-- _ nngh _ \--better open this door when I do, or I’m going to  _ break it down! _ ”

With that, Tweek stomped off, still fuming as he pulled out his phone to give Stan a call.

Screw the danger, and screw leaving in the morning--he was on a mission now, and he wasn’t about to let anyone or anything stop him from uncovering the truth of South Park and his connection to this supposedly-cursed town.

* * *

From the other side of the door, Craig slumped to the ground, his face pale and his eyes wide.

Tweek had said his name.

_ He hadn’t told Tweek his name. _

He didn’t know if it was just a fluke, or if Tweek’s memories were beginning to return from being in South Park for too long, but regardless, this was  _ bad _ .

Craig had given everything, sacrificed  _ everything _ to keep Tweek safe: his freedom, his happiness, his  _ humanity _ … he’d given it all up in a heartbeat if it meant that Tweek would get to leave this cursed town and live a normal, happy life.

Yet now here Tweek was, threatening to undo everything and make all of Craig’s sacrifices for naught.

What’s worse was that beyond the fear, beyond the anger, beyond the frustration--

Craig was just so happy to see Tweek again, so happy to hear his name leave Tweek’s lips, that he found himself fighting back tears.

It was a paradoxical sensation, to feel his heart thudding in his chest from both terror and joy, but he couldn’t help it--selfishly, so selfishly, Craig was just glad to see Tweek again.

If Tweek really was going to refuse to leave South Park--which Craig had no doubts about, since he knew firsthand how stubborn his boyfriend could be when he set his mind on something even back when they were in elementary school, let alone now that Tweek was an adult--then all Craig could do was try and protect him however he could.

Even if Craig had nothing left of himself to give, nothing left to offer in exchange for Tweek’s safety… he would find a way.

He had to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing that ending scene with Craig broke my heart ;_; But on the flip side, writing him being overly dramatic and trying to scare Tweek off made me laugh because he's such a horrible actor lmao


	7. Day Seven: Movie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry to end with such a short drabble, but I was drawing such a huge blank for this prompt ;_; ~~Consider this me projecting about missing going to see Promare in theaters five million times lol~~

There was a small number of things that anyone could say Craig Tucker loved with all his heart and soul.

His boyfriend Tweek was, of course, one thing at the top of the list, as was their guinea pig Stripe. He loved anything to do with outer space, he loved his friends (though he was less likely to admit that than he was to admit to loving his boyfriend), and he--begrudgingly--saved the spot on his list for his family as well, annoying as they could be sometimes.

Above all else, though (except Tweek and Stripe, it was a three-way tie for first place between them), Craig loved Red Racer.

So of course, the second a Red Racer movie was announced to be airing in theaters, Craig immediately went to Tweek to ask if he would go and watch it with him on opening day.

Needless to say, Tweek--despite having no personal interest in the series--couldn’t possibly say no to Craig. How could he, when it was so rare for Craig to be so openly excited for something?

So like the good boyfriend he was, Tweek went along with Craig to the movie theater on the day of the first showing--and then again for a second showing, and a third, and a fourth….

Even if Tweek was getting a bit tired of watching the same movie over and over again (not to mention the money that they were spending on movie tickets), it was well worth it to see the glimmer of excitement in Craig’s eyes as he stared up at the large screen, the lighting casting a soft glow on his face as his usual impassive expression softened into a look of pure, genuine joy.

It was a sad day indeed when the theaters finally stopped showing the Red Racer movie--both for Craig, who no longer had his favorite show to look forward to seeing on the big screen, and for Tweek, who had to watch the disappointment in his boyfriend’s gaze as he looked up at the movie listings outside the theater only to find that Red Racer’s title had been removed. Even after seeing it more times than was probably healthy (even  _ Tweek _ had practically the whole movie memorized, and he stopped paying attention after the third or fourth time they’d gone to watch it), or maybe even _because_ they’d gone to see it so many times, it was like there was a gaping void in their lives where the Red Racer movie showings had once been.

Not only because they missed the movie itself (though that was a large part of it, at least for Craig), but also because it had been  _ fun _ going out just the two of them, sitting next to each other in the theater while sharing popcorn and holding hands, smiling and laughing and sitting on the edges of their seats at all the right parts even when they knew what was going to happen. It wasn’t just a movie anymore, it was an  _ experience _ .

And while Tweek had no way of bringing a movie back to theaters, he was able to do the next best thing: surprising Craig for his birthday with a DVD copy of the Speed Racer movie, for them to watch together.

The hug that Craig pulled him into was well worth the allowance money Tweek had to spend just to order the DVD months in advance--and now they could have a new experience together, sitting cuddled up on the couch in their own little world while quoting the movie aloud line for line with bright, matching smiles on their faces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, Creek Week is a wrap! This was definitely a fun and different challenge for me, and I really appreciate anyone and everyone that took time out of their day to read what I wrote! ;u; <3


End file.
